NBA Live
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''NBA Live'' is a series of
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
that was published by
EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
. The series, which debuted in 1994, is the successor to the previous ''NBA Playoffs'' and '' NBA Showdown'' series. Beginning in the late 2000s, ''NBA Live'' sales had dropped off compared to its main competitor, 2K's ''
NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball and the National Basketball Association. The ser ...
'' series. The last released installment to date is 2018's ''
NBA Live 19 ''NBA Live 19'' is a basketball simulation video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. It features Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers as its cover athlete and was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 7, 2018. ...
''. As of 2023, the series has been in an indefinite hiatus, and after the cancellations of ''NBA Live 20'' and ''NBA Live 21'', there has not been any official confirmation by EA on whether or not the series will continue.


''NBA Playoffs''

The predecessor of the NBA Live series was the ''NBA Playoffs'' series, which featured '' Lakers vs. Celtics'', released first in 1989 for
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...
-compatible PCs and later adapted for consoles in early 1990 for the
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
. This game was played from a horizontal view (while later versions moved to an isometric view before ultimately moving to 3D on newer consoles). The game was one of the first to feature an NBA license, containing both real NBA teams and player likenesses and signature moves. Details such as Horace Grant's goggles are clearly visible, and
Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
's "Air Reverse Layup" is animated with very high accuracy. Player numbers were also visible. The game featured only eight of the sixteen teams that qualified for the NBA playoffs that year, as well as both
NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Traditionally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...
teams. The next game in the series was '' Bulls vs. Lakers'', released in 1991, followed by '' Bulls vs. Blazers'' in 1992. Unlike the first game, these two releases were titled after the two teams who were in the
NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...
the previous season, while the original release apparently chose the Lakers and Celtics due to both teams' historical success, in particular their rivalry in the 1980s. Each revision added more teams and players, as well as more signature moves. The series also included an Olympic basketball spinoff game, '' Team USA Basketball'' (1992) which uses the same engine. The final game in the series was '' NBA Showdown 94'' for the
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
before the transition to the ''NBA Live'' naming.


History

In the fall of ‘94, the annual EA basketball release received a simpler title of ''NBA Live 95''. This naming pattern using the forthcoming year has continued, except for varying to use of all 4 digits of the year from ''
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
'' to ''
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
''. Each version's initial release was in the fall near the start of the NBA campaign, though additional ports were sometimes delayed until as late as January or February. After 16 consecutive seasons of releases, an effort to retool the game as ''NBA Elite 11'' met with development troubles, and put the game on hiatus for three years. The series returned with '' NBA Live 14'' in November 2013. The pioneer ''NBA Live 95'' release was for fourth generation video game systems
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
and
SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...
, as well as the
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...
operating system. ''NBA Live 96'' included the first fifth generation version, with the PlayStation, and also the first handheld games version, on the Game Boy. Sixth generation production started with ''NBA Live 2001'' and continued all the way through ''NBA Live 2009'' on the high selling ''PlayStation 2''. ''NBA Live 06'' was the first to hit seventh generation consoles, after its release to the Xbox 360. Finally, with the release of ''NBA Live 14'' for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, EA continued its run on into eighth generation consoles. The game was released on PC each season until support was pulled after the ''NBA Live 08'' season. The Create-A-Player feature was not available in the 1995 versions of the game, but has been a mainstay since ''NBA Live 96. ''NBA Live 99'' was the first to feature Practice Mode and Multi-season play. Starting in ''NBA Live 2000'', the series featured NBA Live Legend All-Stars Teams, that included some biggest names from five decades (50s to 90s). These teams could be used instantly, but to use the players as regular players (e.g. traded, played on regular NBA Teams) they needed to be unlocked. Through the series, some of the Legend rosters were changed for various reasons.
Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
was on the '90s team through 2004 before being removed due to licensing in later versions.
Spud Webb Anthony Jerome "Spud" Webb (born July 13, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard, Webb played college basketball at Midland College and at North Carolina State University. He then played for four teams in the N ...
,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...
, and Tom Chambers were added to the rosters in ''NBA Live 06''. '' NBA Live 2005'' brought the addition of the Freestyle Air, NBA All-Star Weekend, which includes the Rookie Challenge, Three Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Contest, and the NBA All-Star Game, and Freestyle Challenge, which two players or more can play the Three Point Shootout or the Slam Dunk Contest. In ''
NBA Live 08 ''NBA Live 08'' is the 2007 installment of the ''NBA Live'' series by EA Sports. It was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Windows and PlayStation Portable. This is the first ''NBA'' video game to include all three ne ...
,'' a limited number of international teams were added under
FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...
's license. This was also the last release for the Microsoft Windows platform. '' NBA Live 09'' added a feature called Dynamic DNA, the first concept of daily updates changing tendencies, rosters, and hot-cold streaks. After the release of '' NBA Live 10'', EA attempted to retool the series under a new name with '' NBA Elite 11''. However, the game was met with bad publicity and development problems before release and was cancelled (though a playable demo was released for download, and several copies of the full release found their way to customers). In November 2010, development of the franchise was moved from EA Canada studio to Florida-based Tiburon studio. It was eventually announced that the series' next installment would be released in Fall 2012 and would return to the ''NBA Live'' name as '' NBA Live 13'', but it would later be announced, on September 27, 2012, that they would cancel the release. It wasn't until the fall of 2013, that the next game, '' NBA Live 14'', would be released. Prior to its release, EA Sports had sold 33.54 million copies of the video game series since ''NBA Live 95'', just falling short of its main competitor,
NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball and the National Basketball Association. The ser ...
's 37.24 million copies sold since its inception in 1999. '' NBA Live 16'' was released on September 29, 2015. NBA Live Mobile was released on July 6, 2016. It is mostly used to play Ultimate Team modes in the game. '' NBA Live 18'' was released on September 15, 2017, and features players from the WNBA. It also added a new single player mode called ''The One'', in which the player controls an NBA prospect throughout his career. ''
NBA Live 19 ''NBA Live 19'' is a basketball simulation video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. It features Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers as its cover athlete and was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 7, 2018. ...
'' was released on September 7, 2018, and expanded on ''The One'', by adding the ability to make a female player, as well as other game modes. NBA Live 20 was canceled by the development team due to them trying to expand into the next generation of consoles, as announced on the team's
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. ''NBA Live 21'' was also cancelled for the same reason. An NBA Live title has since still not been released since, though it is unclear if the series has been officially discontinued as there has not been any official confirmation by EA on the subject matter.


Games


''NBA Live'' commentary


See also

* ''NCAA Basketball'' series *''
NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball and the National Basketball Association. The ser ...
''


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nba Live Series EA Sports games Electronic Arts franchises Electronic Arts games NBA Live Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1994